LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT IJ&UJ; Received Accession No. k ' n f y . Clots No. SEAL AM) SALMON FISHERIES AND GENERAL RESOURCES OF ALASKA. FOUR VOLUMES. VOLUME II. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 181)8. REPORTS ON SEAL AND SALMON FISHERIES BY OFFICERS OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT, AND CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE STATE AND TREASURY DEPARTMENTS ON THE BERING SEA QUESTION . FROM JANUARY 1, 1895, TO JUNE 30, 1896, WITH • COMMENTS ON THAT PORTION THEREOF WHICH RELATES TO PELAGIC SEALING BY DAVID STARR JORDAN. in TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Report of Joseph Murray, special agent, Treasury Department, for the year 1894 3 Past and future of the fur seal 276^ Pelagic sealing in Bering Sea — correspondence of the Treasury with other Departments upon the subject 315 SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. Report for 1892, by Max Pracht, special agent, Treasury Department 385 Condensation of report for 1893 of Paul S. Luttrell, special agent, Treasury Department 397 Report for 1894, by Joseph Murray, special agent, Treasury Department 101 Report for 1895, by Joseph Murray, special agent, Treasury Department 436 Appendix, by David Starr Jordan and George Archibald Clark 461 V' [CONTINUATION OF SENATE DOCUMENT NO. 137- PART I, 54TH CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION.] REPORT ON THE SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA, BY JOSIEIPIH: Special Treasury Agent, FOR THE Y E A. R 1894. H. Doc. 92, pt. 2 1 REPORT OF JOSEPH MURRAY, SPECIAL TREASURY AGENT, FOR THE YEAR 1894. OFFICE OF SPECIAL AGENT, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., December 30, 1894. SIR: I have the honor to report that, in compliance with Department instructions dated June 12, 1894, I went to the seal islands of Alaska and inspected the fur-seal rookeries, noting particularly the numbers and present condition of the seals in comparison with what they were every year since I first saw them in 1889. I afterwards sailed along the American coast from Unalaska to San Francisco, calling at every important settlement on the way; inspecting every salmon stream and cannery on the route; making diligent inquiry into the condition of the native inhabitants of Alaska; the wants and desires of the white settlers who are busy developing the natural re- sources of the Territory, and noting the views of the people generally on all that appertains to the present and future prosperity of the new country. On July 10, 1 left San Francisco on board the TJ. S. revenue cutter Rush, Capt. 0. L. Hooper commanding, and arrived on the 15th at Port Townsend, where we were afterwards joined by Hon. C. S. Hamlin, Assistant Secretary oi the Treasury, who accompanied us to the seal islands and back as far as Vancouver City, British Columbia. We sailed on board the Rush from Port Townsend July 23 and arrived at the seal islands August 3, first touching at St. George and sailing along the coast, inspecting all the rookeries on that island except Zapaduie, and then sailed over to St. Paul Island, where we landed in a dense fog at 6 o'clock p. in. The seal islands, commonly called the Pribilof group, consist of four distinct islands in Bering Sea, situated between 55° and 57° north latitude, and about 170° west longitude from Greenwich. They are about 200 miles west from the nearest point on the mainland of Alaska, 200 miles north of the Aleutian chain, and 200 miles south of St. Mat- thews Island, or, in other words, they are about 200 miles away from any other land. The seal islands are nearly 2,300 miles from San Francisco, and about 1,600 miles, as the ship sails, directly west from Sitka. They are known, respectively, as St. Paul, St. George, Otter, and Walrus islands. Otter and Walrus are small and of no importance, and as the seals do not haul out at present on either of them regularly, and as they are not included in the lease, it will not be necessary to refer to them again.1 St. Paul, the larger of the two principal islands, is long, low, and narrow, its extreme length and breadth being 12 and 6 miles, respec- tively, and its total area being about 36 square miles. Around the greater part of the island runs a long, low, sandy beach, easy of access, where the seals haul out without difficulty, and where they were to be 1 In 1894 about 1,000 seals hauled out on Otter Island. 4 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. found for a century in greater numbers than on any other spot on -the earth. St. George Island has an area of about 27 square miles, and its sides rise out of the water so abruptly and so steep that there are only a few places around the whole coast upon which anything coming out of the sea can find a footing, and consequently the number of seals lauding must of necessity be limited, which accounts, I think, for the great dif- ference in the numbers to be found on the two islands. CLIMATE. The islands are situated in the path of the Japan current, which, on meeting the icy waters of the north at this point, brings forth the dense summer fogs for which Bering Sea is so justly famous, and in which the islands are enveloped from May to September. Owing to difference of altitude, St. George Island being much higher than St. Paul, there is a very marked difference in the amount of rainfall on each — fully five times the volume falling on St. George, although the islands are only 40 miles apart. The average temperature for the year is about 35°, ranging from 35° to 60° in the summer, and from zero to 15° below in winter. Both of the islands are of volcanic origin, and there is not a sign of tree, shrub, or vine on either of them. They are covered in season with moss, grass, and wild flowers, but it is impossible to raise anything by cultivation, for, no matter how rich the soil may be, there is not enough sunshine to ripen the crop. Thick fog, leaden sky, drizzly rain, mist, and moisture are the general conditions ruling there, and during a con- tinuous residence of thirty months — fifteen on each island — I saw only six wholly clear, sunshiny days. The surface of the highlands on St. George is covered with loose and broken rock — rock broken into all shapes and sizes, from that of a pebble to boulders weighing many tons, and thrown together into every imag- inable position except a level one. On St. Paul the winds of centuries have heaped the sands of the sea- shore into dunes of considerable height and magnitude, and filled up many cavities and rough spots, but, excepting a slight covering of most nutritious reindeer moss, the greater part of the surface of St. George remains to-day as it came from the hands of the Creator. And yet nature finds a use for those rugged and unshapely rocks, for under and between them, where the prowling, crafty fox can not pene- trate, millions of sea birds build their nests, and lay their eggs, and rear their young. I use the word millions advisedly, and I believe I might say billions, and yet be within the bounds of truth. One of the most beautiful sights to be seen in this otherwise desolate region is the return of the birds from the sea to their nests during the hatching season, when toward evening they fill the air and darken the sun for hours in their flight with their countless numbers. Here, too, on St. George Island the famous blue fox finds a perma- nent home, and grows to perfection, for here he has abundance of choice and dainty food, and no one to molest him out of season. SEALS. To these islands, notwithstanding their cheerless aspect, their dreary barren shores, their damp and foggy climate, come the fur seals every year with the unerring regularity of the seasons; here they haul out of the water and make their home on land for six months at least, during ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 5 which time they bring forth and rear their young, after which they return to the sea, and disappear in the depths of the great ocean until the days lengthen out again and nature tells them to return. Given a few warm, sunny days any time about April 20, and the "first bull" may be seen carefully reconnoitering a rookery and event- ually hauling out and taking possession of the identical rock or spot of earth upon which he dwelt with his family last year, and upon which he himself, in all probability, was born. Early in May the breeding males or bulls begin to arrive in large numbers and select their stations, upon which they lie down and sleep for several weeks, or until about the time the breeding females or cows are expected, when they assume an upright sitting posture and send forth at intervals a cry peculiar to the fur seal, which is supposed to be an invitation or signal to the approaching cows. About the middle of May, and long before the arrival of the cows, the large young males, or bachelors, begin to arrive at the islands; and they, too, would haul out upon the breeding grounds were it not that the bulls are there to prevent it by driving them off. No male seal can stay on the breeding grounds that is not old enough and strong enough to maintain his position against all comers. The young males are thus naturally forced to herd by themselves at a safe distance from the breeding grounds during the breeding season, and this regulation in turn serves a very good purpose, for, as the breeding and killing seasons run together through the months of June and July, the young males can be easily surrounded and driven to the killing grounds with- out having to disturb the breeding seals. None but young male seals are ever killed for food or for skins or for any other purpose on the islands. About June 10 the cows begin to arrive and haul out and select their stations for the season. It has been claimed that the bulls meet the cows at the water's edge and fight bloody battles for them, but my observation has convinced me that the cow herself selects her station, and having once made a choice she is certainly compelled to remain there. Shortly after the arrival of the cows the young seals or pups are to be seen upon the rookeries; and it is safe to say that, with few excep- tions, they are all brought forth by July 25. I have for six years paid particular attention to the formation of the harems or families, and I find that from July 10 to 20 the rookeries are fullest and at their best, and I have counted from 1 to 72 cows in one harem. After bringing forth their young the cows go into the sea to feed, returning to and nursing their offspring every few hours at first, but gradually lengthening their stay into days and weeks before they return. When about four or five weeks old the pups begin to stir around and get acquainted with one another, forming pods or crowds, and running in company, at first inclining toward the interior of the rookery, and iiiterwards, as they advance in age and strength, they direct their steps toward the beach, where they paddle around in the shallows until, step by step, they learn to swim. About the beginning of August the harems are broken up, the com- pact formation of the herd is dissolved, and the different sexes mix and mingle together indiscriminately all over the rookeries and hauling grounds. When the bull hauls out in May he is as "round as a barrel" and as 6 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. fat and sleek and glossy as possible; but after a four months' residence on laud, where he never tastes food or drink, he becomes so poor and gaunt and weak that it is with the utmost difficulty he crawls off into the sea when he leaves, late in August or early in September, to take his annual journey through Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. By September 15 the bulls have disappeared, and by the middle of October the largest of the young males have followed them. Early in November the cows begin to leave, and if the weather turns unusually cold or rough they do not delay their departure. The pups leave about the middle of November, and the yearlings, male and female, leave early in December. In exceptionally fine weather it is common to see a few seals in the waters around the islands all winter, and in rare instances they have been taken on shore as late as January; but the great herd follows a well-defined and (at present) well-known path through the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean south and east from the seal islands to the coast of California, nearly opposite Cape St. Lucas, and return along the American coast and the Aleutian Islands to Bering Sea. The following very accurate description of the fur seal and its pecul- iarities is taken from the report of the United States Bering Sea Commissioners: 1. The northern fnr seal (Callorhinus urslnus) is an inhabitant of Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, where it breeds on rocky islands. Only four breeding colonies are known, namely, (1) on the Pribilof Islands, belonging to the United States; (2) on the Commander Islands, belonging to Russia; (3) on Robben Reef, belonging to Rus- sia ; and (4) on the Kurile Islands, belonging to Japan. The Pribilof and Commander Islands are in Bering Sea; Robben Reef is in the Sea of Okhotsk, near the island of Saghalien, and the Kurile Islands are between Yezo and Kamchatka. The species is not known to breed in any other part of the world. The fur seals of Lobos Island and the south seas, and also those of the Galapagos Islands and the islands off Lower California, belong to widely different species, and are placed in different genera from the northern fur seal. 2. In winter the fur seals migrate into the North Pacific Ocean. The herds from the Commander Islands, Robben Reef, and the Kurile Islands move south along the Japan coast, while the herd belonging to the Pribilof Islands leaves Bering Sea by the eastern passes of the Aleutian chain. 3. The fur seals of the Pribilof Islands do not mix with those of the Commander and Kurile islands at any time of the year. In summer the two herds remain entirely distinct, separated by a water interval of several hundred miles; and in their winter migrations those from the Pribilof Islands follow the American coast in a southeasterly direction, while those from the Commander and Kurile islands fol- low the Siberian and Japan coasts in a southwesterly direction, the two herds being separated in winter by a water interval of several thousand miles. This regularity in the movements of the different herds is in obedience to the well- known law that migratory animals follow definite routes in migration, and return year after year to the same places to breed. Were it not for this law there would be no such thing as stability of species, for interbreeding and existence under diverse physiographic conditions would destroy all specific characters. ' The pelage of the Pribilof fur seals differs so markedly from that of the Commander Islands fur seals that the two are readily distinguished by experts, and have very different values, the former commanding much higher prices than the latter at the regular London sales. 4. The old breeding males of the Pribilof herd are not known to range much south of the Aleutian Islands, but the females and young appear along the American coast as far south as northern California. Returning, the herds of females move north- 1 The home of a species is the area over which it breeds. It is well known to nat- uralists that migratory animals, whether mammals, birds, fishes, or members of other groups, leave their homes for a part of the year because the climatic conditions or the food supply become unsuited to their needs; and that wherever the home of a species is so situated as to provide a suitable climate and food supply throughout the year such species do not migrate. This is the explanation of the fact that the north- ern fur seals are migrants, while the fur seals of tropical and warm temperate lati- tudes do not migrate. ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 7 ward along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in January, February, and March, occurhig at varying distances from shore. Following the Alaskan coast northward and westward, they leave the North Pacific Ocean in June, traverse the eastern passes in the Aleutian chain, and proceed at once to the Pribilof Islands. 5. The old (breeding) males reach the islands much earlier, the first coming the last week in April or early in May. They at once land and take stands on the rook- eries, where they await the arrival of the females. Each male (called a bull) selects a large rock, on or near which he remains until August, unless driven off by stronger bulls, never leaving for a single instant, night or day, and taking neither food nor water. Both before and for some time after the arrival of the females (called cows) the bulls fight savagely among themselves for positions on the rookeries and for pos- session of the cows, and many are severely wounded. All the bulls are located by June 20. 6. The bachelor seals (holluschickie) begin to arrive early in May, and large num- bers are on the hauling grounds by the end of May or first week of June. They begin to leave the islands in November, but many remain into December or January, and sometimes into February. 7. The cows begin arriving early in June, and soon appear in large schools or droves, immense numbers taking their places on the rookeries each day between the middle and the end of the month, the precise dates varying with the weather. They assemble about the old bulls in compact groups, called harems. The harems are complete early in July, at which time the breeding rookeries attain their maximum size and compactness. 8. The cows give birth to their young soon after taking their places on the harems, in the latter part of June and in July, but a few are delayed until August. The period of gestation is between eleven and twelve months. 9. A single young is born in each instance. The young at birth are about equally divided as to sex. 10. The act of nursing is performed on land, never in the water. It is necessary, therefore, for the cows to remain at the islands until the young are weaned, which is not until they are four or five months old. Each mother knows her own pup, and will not permit any other to nurse. This is the reason so many thousand pups starve to death on the rookeries when their mothers are killed at sea. We have repeatedly seen nursing cows come out of the water and search for their young, often traveling considerable distances and visiting group after group of pups before finding their own. On reaching an assemblage of pups, some of which are awake and others asleep, she rapidly moves about among them, sniffing at each, and then gallops off to the next. Those that are awake advance toward her, with the evident purpose of nursing, but she repels them with a snarl and passes on. When she finds her own she fondles it a moment, turns partly over on her side so as to present her nipples, and it promptly begins to suck. In one instance we saw a mother carry her pup back a distance of 15 meters (50 feet) before allowing it to nurse. It is said that the cows sometimes recognize their young by their cry, a sort of bleat. 11. Soon after birth the pups move away from the harems and huddle together in small groups, called "pods," along the borders of the breeding rookeries and at some distance from the water. The small groups gradually unite to form larger groups, which move slowly down to the water's edge. When six or eight weeks old the pups begin to learn to swim. Not only are the^ young not born at sea, but if soon after birth they are washed into the sea they are drowned. 12. The fur seal is polygamous, and the male is at least five times as large as the female. As a rule each male serves about fifteen or twenty females, but in some cases as many as fifty or more. 13. The act of copulation takes place o;n land, and lasts from five to ten minutes. Most of the cows are served by the middle of July, or soon after the birth of their pups. They then take to the water, and come and go for food while nursing. 14. Many young bulls succeed in securing a few cows behind or away from the breeding harems, particularly late in the season (after the middle of July, at which time the regular harems begin to break up). It is almost certain that many, if not most, of the cows are served for the first time by these young bulls, either on the hauling grounds or along the water front. These young bulls may be distinguished at a glance from those on the regular harems by the circumstance that they are fat and in excellent condition, while those that have fasted for three months on the breeding rookeries are much emaciated and exhausted. The young bulls, even when they have succeeded in capturing a number of cows, can be driven from their stands with little difficulty, while (as is well known) the old bulls on the harems will die in their tracks rather than leave. 15. The cows are believed to take the bull first when 2 years old, and deliver their first pup when 3 years old. 16. Bulls first take stands on the breeding rookeries when 6 or 7 years old. Before this they are not powerful enough to light the older bulls for positions on the harems. 8 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 17. Cows, when nursing, regularly travel long distances to feed. They are fre- quently found 100 or 150 miles from the islands, and sometimes at greater distances 18. The food of the fur seal consists of fish, squids, crustaceans, and probably other forms of marine life. 19. The groat majority of cows, pups, and such of the breeding bulls as have not already gone, leave the islands about the middle of November, the date varying con- siderably with the season. 20. Part of the nonbreeding male seals (holluschickie), together with a few old bulls, remain until January, and in rare instances until February, or even later. 21. The fur seal as a species is present at the Pribilof Islands eight or nine mouths of the year, or from two-thirds to three-fourths of the time, and in mild winters sometimes during the entire year. The breeding bulls arrive earliest and remain continuously on the islands about four months. The breeding cows remain about six months, and part of the nonbreeding male seals about eight or nine months, and sometimes throughout the entire year. 22. During the northward migration, as has been stated, the last of the body or herd of fur seals leave the North Pacific and enter Bering Sea in the latter part of June. A few scattered individuals, however, are seen during the summer at various points along the northwest coast. These are probably seals that were so badly wounded by pelagic sealers that they could not travel with the rest of the herd to the Pribilof Islands. It has been alleged that young fur seals have been found in early summer on several occasions along the coast of British Columbia and south- eastern Alaska. While no authentic case of the kind has come to our notice, it would be expected from the large number of cows that are wounded each winter and spring along these coasts and are thereby rendered unable to reach the breeding rookeries, and must perforce give birth to their young (perhaps prematurely) wherever they may be at the time. 23. The reason the northern fur seal inhabits the Pribilof Islands to the exclusion of all other islands and coasts is that it here finds the climatic and physical condi- tions necessary to its life wants. This species requires a uniformly low temperature and overcast sky and a foggy atmosphere to prevent the sun's rays from injuring it during the long summer season when it remains upon the rookeries. It requires also rocky beaches on which to bring forth its young. No islands to the northward or southward of the Pribilof Islands, with the possible exception of limited areas on the Aleutian chain, are known to possess the requisite combination of climate and physical conditions. All statements to the effect that fur seals of this species formerly bred on the coasts and islands of California and Mexico are erroneous, the seals remaining there belonging to widely different species. DRIVING AND KILLING. When the first young males, or bachelors, arrive at the islands in May, a drive is made for food for the natives, who are hungry for fresh meat, not having tasted any since the preceding November. All of the driving is done under the immediate and exclusive direc- tions of the native chief, who is the most experienced and most trust- worthy man on the island. Should the seals happen to lie near the water, it will be necessary to wait till the tide runs out before disturbing them. At the proper time a dozen men are on the ground, and silently and swiftly running in single file along the beach they form a line between the seals and the sea 5 and then the startled animals will immediately start inland, where they are slowly followed by the men, until they are too far from the beach to escape to the water, when they are put in charge of three or four of the men, who bring them along slowly to the killing grounds, which is never less than half a mile away from the nearest breeding seals. No other part of the work done in taking seal skins is more carefully performed than the driving of seals; they are never driven at a pace greater than about one mile in three hours, and most of the driving is done during the night, so as to take advantage of the dew and moisture, and to avoid the sudden appearance of the sun, which is always more or less injuri- ous to seal life on a drive. The stories told by interested men about careless and reckless driving are not true, and, for obvious reasons, ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 9 can not be true, because overdriving means overheating, and an over heated fur seal is one from which the fur lias fallen and left the skin valueless, and that means a loss to natives, lessees, and Government alike. As there is no one to benefit by overdriving, it is never indulged in 5 and during an experience of six years on the islands I never saw a skin injured by overheating or overdriving. As most of the drives are made in the night, the seals are allowed to lie in the damp grass around the killing grounds for several hours before killing takes place; and it is customary to allow them to rest for a few hours, no matter when they are driven, because it is best for the skin and for the flesh that the animal be killed while it is cool and quiet rather than while it may be warm and excited. There are four different and well-defined killing grounds on St. Paul Island, from some one of which the most distant hauling ground or rookery is not to exceed 2J miles. On St. George there are two killing grounds, from some one of which the most distant rookery or hauling ground is not to exceed 3 miles, and during the past fifteen years there has not been a longer drive made on either island than 3 miles, interested parties to the contrary not- withstanding. Generally the killing is done just after breakfast, and the whole pop- ulation turns out and takes part in the work. The men and boys are divided into grades or classes: Clubbers, stick- ' ers, flipperers, and skinners; the women and girls following the skinners and taking care of the blubber and meat. Two men at opposite sides of the herd will, by advancing till they meet, cut out twenty or thirty seals from the main body and drive them up to the killing ground, where six experienced men stand armed with clubs of ash or hickory about 5£ feet long and about 3 inches thick at the heavier end, which end is generally bound in sheet iron to prevent its destruction by the continuous biting of the seals. The clubbers are under the immediate orders of the lessee's local agent who is a man of large experience in seal work, one who can tell at a glance how much the skin of any particular seal will weigh, and he points out the seals to be clubbed. A smart blow on the head knocks the seal down and stuns him, and if the blow has been properly dealt he never recovers; but quite often it requires two to three blows from a bungler to finish him. The clubbed seals are dragged into line and counted, and then " stuck " and "flippered," or, in other words, they are stabbed to the heart and allowed to bleed freely; and then a knife is drawn around the head and flippers, severing the skin and leaving it ready for the skinner, who strips it off in short order and spreads it evenly on the damp grass, flesh side down, to cool. These several operations are repeated till the desired number are killed, when the remaining seals are allowed to go into the water and return to the hauling grounds. After the skin has been removed, the women take the carcass and, after stripping off the blubber or fat, cut off the choice meat in strips to dry; and, when dried, they pack it into the dried stomach of the sea lion, where it is kept air tight and preserved for an indefinite period. The remainder of the seal is boiled and eaten as wanted. When all the seals killed are skinned, the skins are taken by wagon to the salt house, where they are assorted and carefully inspected by the lessee's agent, who throws out as rejected all skins that do not come up to a certain standard. There are three classes of rejected skins, namely: cut, small, and stagy. 10 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. A cut skin is one that has been bitten through by one seal biting another during one of their many battles, or it may have been acci- dentally cut during the operation of skinning; a small skin is one that weighs a little less than the minimum standard set up by the lessee's agent, generally less than 6 pounds. After July the fur seal sheds his hair, and it is during the shedding season, when the old hair is falling out and before the new hair has attained its full growth, that the skin is said to be stagy. The fur of a stagy skin is just as good as any other; but the half- grown new hair, being shorter than the fur. can not be plucked out by hand or by machinery, and is therefore considered a blemish on the skin, in consequence of which its price and value are naturally lowered in the market. Heretofore, and until the adoption of the modus vivendi in 1891, it was customary to allow the natives to kill seals for food at any and all times when they were to be found on the islands. And it was in this way, and in this way only, that stagy skins were ever taken and wasted, because all skins that are rejected by the lessee's agent are wasted so far as Government interests and revenue are concerned. No killing should be permitted for any purpose whatsoever during the stagy season, say from July 31 to November 15. After a thorough inspection, the skins are counted one by one in presence of the Treasury agent, who makes a record of the same in a book kept for that purpose, and in which he also enters the date of the drive, the rookery driven from, the hour of driving, the state of the weather, the number of seals killed, the number of skins accepted, the number rejected, and the cause of such rejection. The accepted skins are then salted by the natives in presence and under the direction of the native chief and the lessee's agent. The skins are spread on the floor, hair side down, and covered with a layer of coarse salt: again a layer of skins is laid on and covered with salt as before, and the operation is repeated until all are salted. After lying for at least five days in the first salt they are shaken out and examined, and resalted as before, excepting that the top layer is now put down first and the original position of all layers reversed. When sufficiently cured they are bundled by the natives, who, spread- ing a thin layer of salt between two skins, lay them flesh side to flesh side, and fold the two into a neat, compact bundle, which they tie securely with strong twine, and throw into the pile for shipping. From the shipping pile they are again counted out, bundle by bundle, by the Treasury agent, in whose presence they are always taken from the salt house to the boat, from which they are again counted by the mate into the steamer that takes them to San Francisco, where they are counted once more by the customs officers, and finally packed into barrels by the lessees and shipped direct to London via New York. Early in the morning of August 4, 1894, a drive was made from the Reef rookery in presence of Mr. Hamlin, who accompanied the native men who did the work, and who was present throughout the whole oper- ation of driving, killing, and skinning the seals, inspecting, assorting, counting, and salting the skins, just as the same operations have been performed every killing season for the past quarter of a century.1 1 The only exception to this is in the method of killing. The olden rule was to allow each man to first knock down his share and then tarn in and skin them, but experience taught us that this was bad policy, for the carcasses that were allowed to cool and stiffen before skinning were very apt to have their skins injured in the operation, hence the adoption of the present improved system. ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 11 During our five days' stay on St. Paul Island we inspected all the rookeries, walking over many of them, and I carefully noted their con- dition, the sparsely settled breeding grounds, the deserted hauling grounds, and the desolate appearance of the place in comparison with what I saw there only five years ago, when hundreds of thousands of seals swarmed over the greater portion of the ground that is now bare and abandoned. Next to the shriveled condition of the seal herd as a whole, the most noted change I observed on the breeding grounds since 1889 was the great number of idle bulls, young and vigorous, lying around in all directions, watching an opportunity to secure cows. They can not succeed, however, for during the past ten years the cows have been the quarry of the pelagic sealer, whose improved meth- ods of hunting in the open waters, and whose unceasing, unerring, and merciless hunting of them at all seasons, have at length succeeded in destroying at least a million nursing mothers, who, with their starved offspring and unborn young, represent a loss of many millions, which in turn accounts for the acres of bare and unoccupied rookery ground over which we walked without finding a seal. When in 1891 1 inspected the same rookeries I counted 1,250 idle bulls at the very height of the rutting season, and I have since observed a steady increase of breeding bulls as the herd continued as steadily to decrease as a whole. So plain and palpable has this increase of bulls been for the past five years, it has become a topic of general conversation among those who have had opportunities to observe the rookeries from year to year dur ing the breeding season ; and in his annual report for 1894 the agent in charge of the islands says: The only class of seals that showed an increase over last year were the young bulls, who were unable to lind a single cow with which to start a harem on the rookeries. There were more idle bulls of breeding age than there were bulls with harems on the breeding grounds. (See Report of Joseph 13. Crowley, 1894.) Another very important feature observed in our inspection of the rookeries in 1894 was the absence of dead pups in the early part of August, for up to our leaving on the 8th I had not seen a dead pup on the island, and the agent in charge, who was on St. Paul Island from June to the latter part of August and who kept a close watch for dead pups, tells me now that it was not till about August 20 there was a dead pup to be seen, but from that date to the close of the season, according to official communications received from the islands, the car- casses of dead pups, starved and emaciated, increased with appalling rapidity until 12,000 were counted by the assistant agents. The agents report that they actually counted 12,000 dead pups on the accessible portions of the rookeries to which they could go without dis- turbing the seals, and after making due allowance for the portions not visited at all, they believe that a fair estimate of the total number of dead pups on the two islands of St. Paul and St. George in 1894 would aggregate 20,000. (See report of Joseph B. Crowley, 1894.) And Mr. Joseph B. Crowley tells us that — Every precaution was taken to count only such as appeared to have died late in the season. None of the small young pups which showed decay and bore the appear- ance of having died early in the breeding season were counted. ' I do not make recklessly the statement of the death of pups from starvation. There is posi- tive proof of it. I witnessed the beginning of its disastrous results the last of August before leaving the islands. Visiting the rook cries in person, I found hundreds of pups which had lately died. They bore every appearance of having died of starva- tion. Hundreds that were yet alive were so wasted and weak they could scarcely drag themselves over the rocks and would not attempt to get out of the way when approached. (Report of J. B. Crowley, 1894.) 12 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. "What is the cause of the death of so many fur-seal pups!" has been asked many times during the past five years' discussion of the seal question, and many conflicting answers have been given. I thinft; the following, under the circumstances, is an answer that can not be contra- dicted. The pelagic-sealing season opened in Bering Sea on August 1, 1894, in accordance with the international regulations made possible by the Bering Sea Tribunal, under which pelagic sealers are licensed to kill seals, with spears, outside of the 60-niile zone around the se^al islands, and immediately we see the result of their work in the thousands of pups starved to death after their mothers had been killed at sea by the men whose right to kill them, at certain seasons, has been established and acknowledged by the very tribunal that was created for the purpose of preventing the destruction of the fur-seal herd. One of the most horrible and harrowing sights imaginable is that of being surrounded on the bleak and inhospitable shores of the Pribilof Islands by thousands of dead and dying pup seals whose death has been the result of slow starvation, and whose hungry cries and almost human appeals for food and life must be made in vain, for, no matter how willing and anxious one may be to render assistance, one feels it is beyond human power to arrest the gnawing of hunger in an animal who is totally dependent for sustenance on a mother who was killed a month ago by pelagic sealers ! Those who once witnessed such a sight never can forget it, and occa- sionally I receive letters from some of them which run somewhat like the following: Do tell me what is to be clone with the few remaining seals. * * If these steps had been taken last year, even, there might have been enough left to tell the tale, but as it is I can not but feel what a pitiable sight the rookeries will present next year. It was discouraging enough last spring when I compared the rookeries with what I had seen just the year before. My heart bled for the poor starving pups so much, the last stroll I took on the rookeries, that I could never go back. I don't see how the judge could stand to see 10,000 dead ones. It would have broken my heart I know. The morning we came into Dutch Harbor on our voyage down we saw three sealing vessels sailing out toward the 60-miles limit. Oh', what a farce, what a snare and delusion that 60 mile limit was! How could anyone who had ever been to the seal islands and noted the habits of the feeding cows ever recom- mend such a murderous proposition? Even I knew better than that. But 13,000 cows taken staggered me. I had expected about 5,000 or 6,000, and even cal- culated the terrible consequence upon the rookeries, but 13,000! that was terrible, terrible ! The writer of that letter is the wife of the Treasury agent, an Amer- ican lady of Christian education, culture, and refinement, who natu- rally felt horrified at the sight she saw on the rookeries, and, like the tender and merciful woman she is, she denounces the system, regula- tion, custom, or whatever else it may be called, which makes such suf- fering possible. One instance in this connection worth recording is that of a pelagic sealer whose heart was touched by the pitiful cries of an orphan pup, and the story is told by an eyewitness under oath : Of the seals that were caught off the coast fully 90 out of every 100 had young pups in them. The boats would bring the seals on board the vessel, and we would take the young pups out and skin them. If the pup is good and a nice one, we would skin it and keep it for ourselves. I had eight such skins myself. Four out of five, if caught in May or June, would be alive when we cut them out of their mothers. One of them we kept for pretty near three weeks alive on deck by feed- ing it on condensed milk. One of the men finally killed it because it cried so piti- fully. (Affidavit of Alfred Dardean.) The reverse side of the question is that held by the average pelagic sealer, who kills the mother seal and cuts out her unborn young or leaves the born young to slowly starve to death on the rookeries. ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 13 The British Bering Sea commissioners in this connection stated: The fur of the female is equally good with that of the male, and under the condi- tions under which the hunting is carried on, there is room for no sentimental consid- erations in favor of either sex. I was informed by the Treasury agent and others who had wintered on the seal islands that the winter of 1893-94 had been one of unusual severity, rigor, and length, and that the seals had been much later in hauling out than for many years past. This happens occasionally, for whenever it is unusually cold during the spring and early summer months, and the ice hangs around the islands till the latter end of May or early June, the seals will not or can not haul out until passages are made and the rocks and beach cleared of ice ; all of which had to be done last season. From the same source I also learned that never before, since the United States owned the islands, were seals so few upon the rookeries during the killing season of June and July, and that the 20,000 killa- bles allowed to be taken this year were not to be found unless the standard weight and size should be lowered by the lessees and smaller seals taken. As the lessees have not taken any skins weighing less than 7 pounds, and have killed some 16,000 first-class seals, 1 have no doubt of their being able to get 20,000 had they chosen to take 4,000 skins weighing from 5 to 6 pounds each. This opens up a question of the utmost importance to our Govern- ment, for if we can not tind 20,000 young male seals on the seal islands, whose skins will weigh from 7 to 12 pounds each, after a modus vivendi, and a general rest of nearly four years, it is most assuredly time for us to search for the cause of the steady decrease of the fur-seal herd. To all those whose long and practical experience on the islands and among the seals gives them a right to be heard, the explanation is not hard, but unfortunately, because of many clashing interests, there has been a glamor of secrecy and sacredness thrown around the fur-seal question, by and through which plain, practical, business men have been debarred from expressing an opinion, or, having dared to express one, have been tabooed by interested parties. For years the cause of the decrease in the seal herd has been discussed with unabated vigor; so-called improved methods of all sorts have been suggested, and a few of them tried; and, finally, when the question assumed international proportions, arbitration was resorted to in hopes of forever settling a vexed question and of saving from total extinction the remnants of our seal herd that had, only a few years ago, been numbered by the millions and valued at nearly $100,000,000. In spite of all that has been done thus far, however, the seal herd is rapidly decreasing, and in the very nature of things must continue to decrease so long as scores of ships and thousands of men are permitted to hunt them in the open sea and kill them without regard to age, sex, or condition. There is no more mystery about the cause of the decrease and destruc- tion of the fur-seal herd than there would be about the decrease of a herd of cattle on the plains of Colorado if the owner should continue to sell or kill, or allow someone else to sell or kill, his breeding cows for a series of years, or until they were all gone. Twice since the discovery of the seal islands and during Eussian occupation have the seals been almost exterminated because of the indiscriminate slaughter of the female, or mother seal, for it is well known that the Russians continued to slaughter everything on the 14 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. islands without regard to age, sex, or condition until 1834, when the question of total extermination stared them in the face. Yeniaminov tells us: From the time of the discovery of the Pribilof Islands up to 1805 the taking of fur seals progressed without count or lists, and without responsible heads or chiefs, because then (1787 to 1805, inclusive) there were a number of companies, represented by as many agents or leaders, and all of them vied with each other in taking as many as they could before the killing was stopped. After this, in 1806 and 1807, there were no seals taken, and nearly all the people were removed to Unalaska. In 1808 the killing was again commenced, but the people in this year were allowed to kill only on St. George. On St. Paul hunters were not permitted this year or the next. It was not until the fourth year after this that as many as half the number pre- viously taken were annually killed. From this time (St. George 1808 and St. Paul 1810) up to 1822, taking fur seals pro- gressed on both islands without economy and with slight circumspection as if there were a race in killing for the most skins. Cows were taken in drives and killed, and were also driven from the rookeries to places where they were slaughtered. (Elliott's translation.) And Mr. Elliott, commenting on Yeniaminov's zapieska. tells us that — A study of this killing throughout the zapooska of 1834 on St. Paul Island shows that for a period of seven years, from 1835 down to the close of the season of 1841, no seals practically were killed save those that were needed for food and clothing by the natives, and that in 1835 for the first time in the history of this industry on those islands, was the vital principle of not killing female seals recognized. It will be noticed that the entry for each and every year distinctly specifies so many bachelor seals or holluschickovkotovie. The sealing in those days was carried on all through the summer until the seals left in October or November, on account of the tedious method then in vogue of air drying the skins. This caused them in driving after the breaking up of the breeding season by the end of July, to take up at first hundreds, and thousands later on, of the females, but they never spared those cows then when they arrived in the droves on the killing grounds, prior to this date above quoted, of 1835. (Elliott's report, 1890.) Ignoring for the moment all that has been said about the thought- lessness and brutality of the Russian methods of driving and killing seals, and of the incalculable waste arising therefrom, which resulted in the almost total destruction of the species on two occasions, it is never- theless true that after many years of bitter experience they did learn to do better ; and when they turned the property over to the United States in 18G8 there were nearly 5,000,000 l of seals on the Pribilof Islands, and that for a period of sixteen years afterwards there was neither decrease nor diminution perceptible in those immense and valuable herds. Dr. H. H. Mclntyre, who was the general superintendent for the Alaska Commercial Company during the whole time of their twenty- year lease of the seal islands, writing, confidentially, to his employers in 1889, says: The breeding rookeries from the beginning of the lease till 1882 or 1883 were, I believe, constantly increasing in area and population, and my observations in this direction are in accordance with those of Mr. Morgan, Mr. Webster, and others, who have been for many years with me in your service, and of the late special Treasury agent, J. M. Morton, who was on the islands from 1870 to 1880. (See H. H. Mclntyre to Alaska Commercial Company, July 16, 1889, Appendix.) And Mr. Henry W. Elliott, writing in 1881, fully corroborates the foregoing when he tells us — There were no more seals seen here by human eyes in 1786 and 1787 than there are now in 1881, as far as all evidence goes. (Elliott's Seal Islands of Alaska, p. 66.) 1 Grand sum total for the Pribilof Islands (season of 1873), breeding seals and young, 3,193,420. The nonbreediug seals seem nearly equal in number to that of the adult breeding seals; but, without putting them down at a figure quite so high, I may safely say that the sum total of 1,500,000, in round numbers, is a fair enumera- tion, and quite within bounds of fact. This makes the grand sum total of the fur- seal life on the Pribilof Islands over 4,700,000. (Elliott, The Fur-Seal Islands of Alaska, pp. 61,62.) ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 15 It was in 1873 that Mr. Elliott estimated the number of seals on the Pribilof Islands at 4,700,000, and he again tells us in 1881 that the seals never had been more numerous than they were then; but in 1890 he found them reduced to 959,393 seals, including everything on the islands, or about one-fifth of what the herd had been in 1873. In 1891 the Treasury agents on the seal islands were instructed to make daily visits to the rookeries during the breeding season for the purpose of noting the peculiar habits of the seals and carefully estimat- ing their numbers at various dates on each rookery, and the highest estimate made, not including the pups, was somewhat less than half a million. I was one of the agents who did this work in 1891, and I have spent hours and days and weeks, in turn, watching the cows from their first landing. They would often stay away from their offspring for a week at a time. I have selected a favorable location on the Reef rookery, where I was some 30 feet above the harem and out of danger of being discovered by the seals below, and I have watched one particular pup from its birth until it was a month old; and I found that the cow left it for an hour or two only at first, then for a day, and by the end of the month for four to six days at a time. This fact, coupled with another that I observed in 1890, convinced me that the fur seals do not digest their food as rapidly as some other ani- mals, and consequently they can live longer without eating or drinking. The other fact referred to is this: In 1890 we killed for the natives on St. Paul Island some 2,364 pups, after all the cows had been gone from the island for more than two weeks, and we found the stomachs of all those pups full of pure, undigested milk. I walked over all the rookeries on St. Paul Island twice during the season of 1891, beginning at Halfway Point on July 7, and completing the second journey at Northeast Point on July 22, and the highest esti- mate I made of the number of seals on each was as follows: Rookery. Seals. Rookery. Seals. 149, 975 Middle Hill 5,150 Reef 93 150 Kotavie .. . ......... . ........ 5 075 Halfway Point 10 500 16 600 82, 650 Zapadnie and .East Zapuilnie . 86 200 481 350 English Bay 32, 050 This estimate was made on the basis of an average of 40 cows to each bull, and it was assumed that only one-half the bulls were in sight at any one time, or, in other words, we could not get close enough to see them without disturbing the seals, so we multiplied the nutaber found by 2, and the product by 40, in order to obtain, approximately, the num- ber of seals on a rookery. It is possible, of course, that the method of computation adopted was not the best and that we probably missed the real number by many thousands, plus or minus, but for all practical purposes of comparison between the condition of the rookeries in 1891 and 1894 it is as good as perfection, for it is enough to show that no matter how many seals were there in 1891, not to exceed one-half of the number were to be found in 1894. The same is equally true of St. George, where the rookeries, because of their relatively smaller area, show the decrease at a glance to any- 16 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. one who was on the island a few years ago, and who ever paid any attention to the seals when the rookeries were tilled out to their fullest, and thousands were to be seen sporting in the waters around them. Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that there was not to exceed 300,000 seals on St. Paul and St. George islands in August, 1894. It is here the questions naturally arise, "What is the cause of the decrease of the seal herd"? Is there a remedy; and if so, how can it be applied?" I shall attempt to answer the questions in the order in which I have stated them, and I aim to show that all of my own views are in strict accord with those whose disinterestedness, practical knowledge, or sci- entific attainments warrant them in expressing views on the question at issue. And it will be found, I think, that while we may differ in our estimates of the number of seals on the islands at any particular time or period, or that our notions about methods and management may never be exactly alike, we are all agreed that the cause of the decrease of the fur-seal herd is pelagic sealing. Speaking for myself, after an experience of six years on the seal islands, I have no doubt that were it not for pelagic sealing the seal herd would be as numerous and as flourishing to day as it was in 1868 or 1881, or at any other period since the discovery of the islands; nor is it at ran- dom or without long study that I say this, for I have given the subject a great deal of serious thought during the world-wide discussion of the question since 1890. When the question of the decrease of the seal herd was first men- tioned publicly as a reality, theories as numerous as the men AV!IO enter- tained them were offered in explanation of the cause of such decrease, and for awhile it was argued with consummate ability and persistent energy by Mr. H. W. Elliott, who was considered an authority on all that relates to fur seals, that the driving from the hauling to the killing grounds injured the young males to the extent of impotency, and thus unfitted them at maturity for service on the breeding grounds. A mere idle guess at first, this theory was pushed to the front with energy, although, could angry personal feelings and prejudice have been eliminated from the controversy, the gentleman might have discovered what every scientist, naturalist, and impartial observer saw from the first, that so long as all the cows on the rookeries had pups beside them in season, and every mature cow killed at sea was either a nursing mother or about to become one, the theory of a scarcity of bulls could not be maintained. And after the passions and prejudices existing on the seal islands in 1890 cooled down or had ceased to exist, Mr. Elliott made an affidavit in which he says : After carefully examining the situation, actual records, and trustworthy testimony of men engaged in sealing with whom I have conversed, and also from knowledge of the migratory habit and peculiar circumstances of seal life, I am of the opinion that unchecked pelagic sealing is sure, speedy destruction of the Pribilof herd of fur seals; that if allowed to continue and the fleet increases in number of vessels and increased skill of hunters, even though the present modus vivendi should remain in force, it would result in the utter commercial ruin of the herd; that in order to pre- serve the seals from complete destruction, as a commercial factor, it is necessary that pelagic sealing should not only be prohibited in Bering Sea, but also in the North Pacific from the 1st of May until the end of October, annually. The pelagic hunters to-day kill at least 90 per cent cows (the great majority being with young, nearly ready for delivery) in the Pacific Ocean. As the physical conditions are such that^it is utterly impossible to discriminate in matters of sex or age when shooting or spearing in the water, it is evident that pelagic sealing can not be regulated in the slightest degree beyond its complete pro- hibition within certain limits. (Elliott's affidavit, 1892; see Appendix.) ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 17 Of all the testimony collected during the preparation of the United States case for the Tribunal of Arbitration, I know of nothing clearer or more explicit than this of Mr. Elliott, and to me it seems pitiful indeed, that one who has such a grasp of the subject, and the ability to express it so well, should have been allured for a moment from the plain path of fact to follow the ignis fatuus of theory through so many lanes and byways to the sorrow of so many of his friends and admirers. Beading his different papers, in the light of subsequent events, their perusal makes one feel sorry, indeed, that he did not adopt Webster's views and follow his advice when the old veteran sealer conversed with him on St. George Island that 26th day of July, 1890, of which Mr. Elliott writes: Diiniel Webster is the veteran white sealer on these islands. He came to St. Paul Island in 1868, and, save the season of 1876 (then on a trip to the Russian seal islands) he has been sealing here ever since, being in charge of the work at Northeast Point annually until this summer of 1890, when he has conducted the killing on St. George. He spoke very freely to me this afternoon while calling on nie, and said there is no use trying to build these rookeries up again so as to seal here, as has been done since 1868, unless these animals are protected in the North Pacific Ocean as well as in Bering Sea; on this point the old man was very emphatic. (Elliott's report for 1890, p. 250.) What wonder is it that Webster should have been emphatic in his remarks on pelagic sealing? For more than fifty years he has been in Bering Sea, thirty years of which have been spent among the fur seals of which he has had the practical management, and handled and killed more of them than any other living man. A plain, blunt, rough, practical seaman, honest and patriotic to the core, he could not be wheedled into new-fangled notions or airy theories which are repugnant to good, common sense, and so he makes oath that: My observation has been that there was an expansion of the rookeries from 1870 to 1879, which fact I attribute to the careful management of the islands by the United States Government. * * * There was never, while I have been upon the islands, any scarcity of vigorous bulls, there always being a sufficient number to fertilize all the cows coming to the islands. * * * The season of 1891 showed that male seals had certainly been in sufficient number the year before, because the pups on the rookeries were as many as should be for the number of cows landing, the ratio being the same as in former years. Then, too, there was a surplus of vigorous bulls in 1891 who could obtain no cows. At Zapadnie, on St. George, the drive to the killing grounds is less than a mile. The seals are now being killed there instead of being driven across the island, as they were prior to 1878, when it took three days to make the journey. * * * At Northeast Point rookery, on St. Paul Island, the longest drive is 2 miles. In former times the Russians used to drive from this rookery to St. Paul village, a dis- tance of 12^ miles. (See Webster's affidavit, Appendix.) Yes, let it not be forgotten for a moment that from the first taking of fur seals for their skins on the Pribilof Islands to 1868 they were driven a distance of 12J miles — or from end to end of St. Paul Island — and that no distinction of sex was made, male and female being driven and slaughtered indiscriminately, until the almost total extinction of the species in 1834 compelled the Eussian- American Company to investigate the cause of the decrease, which resulted in prohibiting the killing of females forever afterwaids. It seems that in spite of their ignorant and barbarous methods and their possible lack of scientific acumen, these Kussians were practical fellows after all, for the sequel certainly shows that the plan adopted by them of saving and protecting the female was the true one. Mr. Elliott's own estimates show that from 1835 to 1881 the herds had steadily increased up to 5,000,000 seals, or up to a point beyond which it was impossible to go. Speaking of the increase of seal life, he tells us : I am free to say that it is not within the power of human management to promote this end to the slightest appreciable degree over its present extent and condition aa H. Doc. 92, pt. 2 2 18 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. it stands in the state of nature heretofore described. It can not fail to be evident, from iny detailed narration of the habits and life of the fur seal on these islands during so large a part of every year, that could man have the same supervision and control over this animal during the whole season which he has at his command while they visit the land he might cause them to multiply and increase, as he would BO many cattle, to an indefinite number, only limited by time and the means of feed- ing them. But the case in question, unfortunately, is one where the fur seal is taken, by demands for food, at least six months out of every year, far beyond the reach or even cognizance of any man, where it is all this time exposed to many known powerful and destructive natural enemies, and probably many others, equally so, unknown, which prey upon it, and, in accordance with that well-recognized law of nature, keeps this seal life at a certain number— at a figure which has been reached for ages past, and continue to be in the future, as far as they now are — thoir present maximum limit of increase, namely, between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 seals, in round numbers. This law holds good everywhere throughout the animal kingdom, regulating and preserving the equilibrium of life in the state of nature. Did it not hold good these seal islands and all Bering Sea would have been literally covered, and have swarmed like the medusae of the waters, long before the Russians discov- ered them. But, according to the silent testimony of the rookeries, which have been abandoned by the seals, and the noisy, emphatic assurance of those now occupied, there were no more seals when first seen here by human eyes in 1786 and 1787 than there are now in 1881, as far as all evidence goes. (Elliott's Seal Islands of Alaska, p. 66.) What a pity it is that Mr. Elliott should have forgotten in 1890 the fact that the long drives of from 6 to 12 miles were continued by the Eussians as long as they were in possession of the islands, and that from 1868 to 1881 the Americans killed, annually, 100,000 young male seals without causing diminution or decrease, and that during the entire forty-seven years, from 1834 to 1881, the herd increased to marvelous proportions in spite of the long drives and the killing of so many young males, until, as he himself says, " there were no more seals when first seen here by human eyes in 1786 and 1787 than there are now in 1881, as far as all evidence goes." DECREASE OF SEALS — LACK OF MALE LIFE NOT THE CAUSE. In this connection it may be well to notice some of the testimony bear- ing on this very question of an excess or a dearth of bulls on the breed- ing grounds, collected by the United States when preparing tlieir case for submission to the Tribunal of Arbitration, where the British coun- sel laid such stress upon Mr. Elliott's report of 1890, with his theory of overdriving, impotency, dearth of bulls, innumerable barren females, and a consequent decrease of the seal herd as a whole. In their report the British Bering Sea Commissioners say : Upon the Pribilof Islands in 1891 we did not ourselves note any great abundance of barren females, but the facts in this matter would be scarcely apparent to those not intimately connected with the rookeries for more than a single year. In his official report on the condition of the islands in 1890, Mr. Elliott states that there were then 250,000 females "not bearing or not served last year and this," but he does not explain in what way this numeriqal estimate was arrived at. (Report of British Commissioners, sec. 433, p. 77.) Not only did they not note " any great abundance of barren females," but it is an open question whether they noted any, for the fact is there were not any such animals there to be seen, but they gladly quote Mr. Elliott's story of 1890 about the 250,000 barren females which he observed on the islands. There was not a single day of the breeding season of 1891 when some of the four Treasury agents were not out on the rookeries making care- ful examination of the condition of seal life thereon, and, although I was one of the four, I have yet to hear the first word from any of them, or from any one else who has ever been on a rookery (excepting Mr. Elliott) about barren females. ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 19 It has been amply demonstrated by different individuals, and in many ways, that there was not a shadow of truth in Mr. Elliott's theory, and many of his own most intimate friends and fellow-workers, who are well (nullified to speak as scientists on the seal question, are among the fore- most of those who flatly contradict him on that point. Prof. B. W. Evcrmann, of the United States Fish Commission, visited St. Paul Island while 1 was there in 1892, and he very carefully inspected the seals on many of the rookeries, beginning July 18 and ending on the 31st, and here is what he found: LUKANNON ROOKERY, July 19, from 1.30 to 1 p. m. Harems. Bulls. Cows. Pups. Harems. Bulls. Cows. Pups. 1 1 7 26 9 1 5 3 2 1 Q 60 10 1 12 20 3 1 4 20 11 1 4 5 4 1 2 5 12 1 5 15 5 1 27 12 13 1 g 30 6 1 10 15 7 1 2 o Total 13 90 211 g 1 o o REEF ROOKERY, July SO, p. m. * * * Many quite large bulls TV ere seen among the bachelors, and there is no doubt in my mind but that the number of available bulls is-cousiderably in excess of the number necessary to serve the cows. NORTHEAST POINT ROOKERY, July 22. Several hours in the middle of the day were spent in examining this rook- ery. * * * .Just west of this is a bunch of about 10 good-sized bulls that had no cows about them at all. These were not old, superannuated bulls, but young, vigorous ones, and undoubtedly well able to maintain harems were there a greater number of cows. This and numerous other similar sights convince me that there are even now a good many more bulls than are necessary to serve the cows. (Notes on the fur seal, by B. W. Evermann, Counter Case, United States, p. 264.) And 0. H. Townsend, of the United States Fish Commission, who has had many years practical experience among fur seals, afloat and ashore, and who was on duty in Bering Sea during the summer of 1892, makes affidavit as follows: As already stated above, I was attached to the steamer Corwin during the past summer, and I made all the examinations of the stomachs of the seals referred to in Captain Hooper's report, covering in all 33 seals. * * * These seals were taken on th o 2d day of August, 1892, at a distance of about 175 miles from the islands. J From the fact that among the females thus taken and examined there were found mostly nursing cows, with a small number of virgin cows, it is reasonable to conclude that there are practically no barren females swimming about in the sea unattached to the islands, or that at any rate, if such seals exist, they are rarely, if ever, taken. In all my experience I never saw anything to lead me to the conclusion that there is such a tiling as a barren female. In the case of the virgin cows, a careful examina- tion of the uterus proved them to be too immature for conception. (C. H. Town- send; see affidavit in Appendix.) The testimony of Professor Evermann and Mr. Townsend is a fair sample of that given by naturalists generally, and it is doubly valuable in this instance, because it comes from personal friends of Mr. Elliott, and from friends who rather inclined to his theory until they had opportunity to investigate for themselves, and to demonstrate to their own and the world's satisfaction that there never was an impotent bull or a barren cow seei> on the breeding grounds or rookeries of the Pribilof Islands or in the waters adjacent thereto. Additional testimony of those who have had experience with the fur seals, and whose practical knowledge of the wh61e subject of seal life, its growth, expansion, and decay, and the causes thereof, entitles them 20 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. to a hearing on the point at issue, is most respectfully submitted to the earnest consideration of all who are interested in the perpetuation of the Alaskan fur seal. Mr. Joseph Stanley-Brown, who also was on the seal islands in 1891-92, testifies as follows: No intelligent observer would be so bold as to assert that during the season of 1892 there was not an abundance of males of competent virility, despite the occur- rence of occasional large harems. The accompanying photographs1 show that even at the height of the season, and just previous to the disintegration of the breeding grounds, there were, unsupplied with cows, old males which had taken their stand, and from which I was unable to drive them with stones. I should have been extremely glad to have been able to note a great many more large harems, but the work of the pelagic hunter among the females has been so effective, that the average size of the harems is growing smaller and smaller, while the number of idle bulls is steadily increasing. The abundance of male life for service upon the rookeries was evidenced by the number of young bulls which continually sought lodgment upon the breeding grounds. It is highly improbable that the rookeries have ever sustained any injury from insufficient service on the part of the males, for any male that did not possess suf- ficient vitality for sustained potency would inevitably be deprived of his harem by either his neighbor or some lusty young aspirant, and this dispossession would be rendered the more certain by the disloyalty of his consorts. The seal being polygamous in habit, each male being able to provide for a harem averaging twenty or thirty members, and the proportion of male to female born being equal, there must inevitably be left a reserve of young immature males, the death of a certain proportion of which could not in anyway affect the annual supply coming from the breeding grounds. These conditions existing, the Government has permitted the taking, with three exceptions up to 1890, of a quota of about 100,000 of these young male seals annually. When the abundance of seal life, as evidenced by the areas formerly occupied by seals, is considered, I do not believe that this could account for or play any appreciable part in the diminution of the herd. * * * From my knowledge of the vitality of seals, I do not believe any injury ever occurred to the reproductive powers of the male seals from redriving that would retard the increase of the herd, and that the driving of 1890 necessary to secure about 22,000 skins could not have caused nor played any important part in the decrease that was apparent on every hand last year. Karp Buterin, native chief of St. Paul Island (see Appendix) : Plenty of bulls all the time on the rookeries, and plenty bulls have no cows. I never seen a 3-year-old cow without a pup in July; only 2-year-olds have no pups. H. N. Clark, local agent for lessees : I never noticed any disproportion of the sexes that would lead me to suspect that the bull seals were too few, nor more than an occasional barren cow. These latter were so few as to excite no remark, but if any such disproportion did in fact exist in 1888 and in 1889, it was the fault of those who killed them at sea, because it never occurred at all until the marine hunters became numerous and aggressive. I mention this matter here, because since I left the island I have heard it asserted that the mis- management there caused the decrease of seal life. The management there was just such as I would follow if all the seals belonged to me. 0. L. Fowler, local agent for lessees : I never saw any impotent bulls on the rookeries, and do not believe there ever was any, unless it was the result of age ; nor do I believe that young male seals were ever rendered impotent by driving. There has always been a plenty of bulls on the rook- eries for breeding purposes ever since I have been on the islands. John Fratis, native sealer, St. Paul Island : I never knew of a time when there were not plenty of bulls for all the cows, and I never saw a cow seal, except a 2-year-old, without a pup by her side in the proper season. I never heard tell of an impotent bull seal, nor do I believe there is such a thing, excepting the very old and feeble or badly wounded ones. I have seeu hun- dreds of idle vigorous bulls upon the rookeries, and there were no cows for them. I saw many such bulls last year. 1 Not given here. ALASKA INDUSTRIES. H. N. Glidden, Treasury agent: During these years there was always a sufficiency of vigorous malfl Hie TO serve all the female seals which came to the islands, and certainly during this period seal life was not affected by any deficiency of males. Alex. Hanssou: The orders of the boss of the gang in which I worked in 1888 and 1889, under the management of the Alaska Commercial Company, were not to kill the 5-year-old bulls, because they were, he said, needed on the rookeries. Aggei Kushen, native sealer, St. Paul Island: We noticed idle, vigorous bulls on the breeding rookeries, because of the scarcity of cows, and I have noticed that the cows have decreased steadily every year since 1886, but more particularly so in 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891. H. H. Mclntyre, general superintendent Alaska Commercial Com- pany: And I am satisfied a sufficient number of males was always reserved for future breeding purposes. That during the twenty years I was upon said Pribilof Islands as general agent of said Alaska Commercial Company there were reserved upon the breeding rookeries upon said islands sufficient vigorous bulls to serve the number of females upon said rookeries ; that while I was located upon said islands there was at all times a greater number of adult male seals than was necessary to fertilize the females who hauled upon said rookeries, and that there was no time when there were not vigorous bulls on the rookeries who were unable to obtain female consorts. So well was this necessity for reserving sufficient mature male life recognized that when in 1887, 1888, and 1889 the depleted rookeries (depleted from causes that will be explained further on) would not furnish the quota of 100,000 large skins, 2 and 3 year-old male seals were taken to make up the quota in preference to trenching upon this reserve of matnrer male life. The policy of the Alaska Commercial Company during the whole period of its lease was, as might be naturally expected, to obtain the best possible skins for market and at the same time preserve the rookeries against injury, for it was not only in their interests to be able to secure every year, until the expiration of the lease, the full quota allowed by law, but they confidently expected, by reason of their good management of the business and faithful fulfillment of every obligation to the Government, to obtain the franchise for a second term. I was, therefore, always alert to see that the due proportion of breeding males of serviceable age was allowed to return to the rookeries. This was a comparatively easy task prior to 1882, but became from year to year more difficult as the seals decreased. No very explicit orders were given to the bosses upon this point until 1888, because the bulls seemed to be plentiful enough, and because it was easier to kill and skin a small seal than a large one, and the natives were inclined, for this reason, to allow the large ones to escape ; but in 1888 and 1889 there was such a marked scarcity of breeding males upon the rookeries that I gave strict orders to spare all 5-year-old bulls and confine the killing to smaller animals. Anton Melovedoff, native chief of St. Paul Island: I have never known or heard tell of a time when there were not bulls enough and to spare on the breeding rookeries. I never saw a cow 3 years old or over in August without a pup by her side. The only covys on a breeding rookery without pups are the virgin cows who have come there for the first time. I never went onto a rook- ery in the breeding season when I could not have counted plenty of the idle, vigor- ous bulls who had no cows. Talk of epidemics among seals and of impotent bulls on the rookeries, but those who have spent a lifetime on the seal islands and whose business and duty it has been to guard and observe them have no knowledge of the existence of either. An impotent bull dare not attempt to go on a rookery even had he a desire to do so. Excepting the extremely old and feeble, I have never seen a bull that was impotent. Simeon Melovidov, native school teacher, St. Paul Island: Nor is there any shadow of fact for the idle statement made from time to time about a dearth of bulls on the rookeries or of impotent bulls. I have talked to the old men of our people, men who can remember back a